


Hidden in These Lies

by King_of_the_Pirates_LuffyTaro



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:36:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29588727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/King_of_the_Pirates_LuffyTaro/pseuds/King_of_the_Pirates_LuffyTaro
Summary: The day was miserable and cold. It was January 21, when the body was found. Who or what the thing was, was very hard to identify with all the damage that was done to the body. After a while the investigators were able to tell it might have once been a woman, maybe in her late teens early twenties. Although the investigators were able to confirm that it was quick and painless.Join Nix, Aziel, Rehan, Remi, and Leo, on a trial of life. What could get worse, I mean they're all homeless teens. Except for the part about them being homeless teens. What can they have to hide? Each with a their own story to tell. On a treasure hunt of clues, with the treasure being Nix's little sister.





	1. Authors Note

Before I start this story I just want to say the chapter names will be dates of when the events happened. The dates will not be in order, because some events will be flashbacks.   
Some of this is based on what I have experienced and some is just pure fiction!

"𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒩𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝑒.

𝐼 𝒲𝐼𝐿𝐿 𝒩𝐸𝒱𝐸𝑅 𝐿𝐸𝒜𝒱𝐸 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝒮𝐼𝒟𝐸"

\- 𝒫𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 (𝒩𝒾𝓍) 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐵𝒾𝑔 𝒮𝒾𝓈, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒!

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒."

-𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓎.

𝐼 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃,

𝓈𝑜......𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒!"

-𝒜𝓏𝒾𝑒𝓁 𝐼𝓀𝒶𝒾𝓀𝒶

"𝐼𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝑒𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓅?

𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃 𝓊𝓅."

-𝑅𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒲𝓇𝑒𝓃

"𝒰𝓂𝓂.....𝐼'𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒...𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹....𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒.

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝓎 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻,

𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉."

-𝑅𝑒𝓂𝒾 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝒶𝒽𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾

"𝐼 𝒟𝒪𝒩'𝒯 𝒲𝒜𝒩𝒩𝒜 𝒟𝐼𝐸!!!!"

-𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓁

©CielTachibana2021


	2. Chapter one: July X767

As I mentioned in the first authors note, some of the things that the characters go through I have experienced, and some of it is just fiction. Sorry if things don't seem interesting in the beginning but I promise it will get better!!!

The day was miserable and cold. It was January 21, when the body was found. Who or what the thing was, was very hard to identify with all the damage that was done to the body. After a while the investigators were able to tell it might have once been a woman, maybe in her late teens early twenties. Although the investigators were able to confirm that it was quick and painless.  
July 9, X767

“Hey Nix why did mommy and daddy leave us?” My little sister asked.  
“I’ll tell you maybe when your older Marie,” I replied. My name is Phoenix Soli and on the night of February 7, X767 our parents were murdered in a house fire. No one knew the cause except me, I knocked over a candle on my father’s desk right into his work papers. My parents sacrificed themselves to save us. The firemen said that they threw their bodies on top of ours to save us. Of course, I’ll never tell anyone that I killed them. I didn’t mean it, but I will never tell anyone this. We have been wandering the streets for a while. I had to steal food so that we could survive. That was two days ago.

“Sissy, I’m cold, tired, and hungry,” Marie said.

“Do you want to ride on my back for a while,” I asked.

“Sure,” She replied.

It was hot, and carrying a six year old in the burning heat wasn't helping much. But I at least owe this much to her, I mean I did "kill" our parents. I still remember Marie's reaction to the fire, the tears running down her face put waterfalls to shame. All I could do was watch her suffer in pain, with no way to help her knowing that this was all my fault.

Our parents were kind, never in my life have I ever seen them fight. My mother was a choir instructor at the local middle school, and my dad was an engineer. In our house on the mantle before the house caught fire, there was a picture of them on their wedding day. My mom in a flowing white dress, she looked so happy, and so regal...like a princess. My dad was dressed in a black suit, his hair combed to the side, he looked manly...okay he looked nice. The thing that makes me so happy is that they both had smiles on their face and they looked truly happy to be with one another. Before the house burnt down I had enough time to grab the photo along side many other things, such as my grandma's earrings, my grandfathers watch, and other things that was precious to the family. 

I had just graduated high school, I was a promising eighteen year old with a GPA of 4.3. Ready to head into med school, then this disaster came out of nowhere leaving my sister and I homeless and having to fend for ourselves. If you've never been homeless let me tell you it is hard, the looks people give you. The fear of getting killed, I mean come on two weak girls, one adult and a six year old...easy targets. Don't forget the part about disease risk, everything is unsanitary. For the last three days we've been taking shelter underneath a bridge. I bet you're wondering 'why don't you just live with family?' Here's the sad part, our grandparents only had one child, my mom. My dad's family disowned him for not taking over the family's business. We have no one and no where to go. 

After walking about four miles, I decided to stop near a farm land. The place was quiet and serene.

"Hey, you! Over there with the red hair, what do you think you're doing?" A voice suddenly yelled at us. I felt Marie shift on my back. I looked behind us and saw a man with a plow heading towards us. When he finally reached us he said "I asked you a question."

"Sorry Sir we were just stopping and looking we meant no harm." The man looked at our appearance before yelling towards the farm house. 

"Alvida, get out here!" Pretty soon a women with long blonde hair, and bright blue eyes like the ocean stood in front of us.

"Oh my, you two look very tired, what happened?" The women who I assume is Alvida asked.

Not wanting to tell her the whole story I just said our house burnt down, and in result we were now homeless. She gave us a kind smile and invited us inside. 

"Not trying to be rude dearies, but y'all smell. Why don't you take a shower, I think I might have some of my daughters old clothes here that I can give you that might fit!" At this point Marie was awake, she climbed off my back and thanked Alvida for the offer. After taking a shower and putting on the clothes we came downstairs to Alvida making something on the stove.

"Why don't you sit down, and eat. You guys must be very hungry." We thanked her as she set down bacon, eggs and pancakes before us.

After a while the man who yelled at us came inside the house. We found out his name was Amos. The old couple have been living here for thirty-seven years, in their time they had one daughter who has grown up and left for college. 

After eating Alvida washed the dishes and showed us to their daughters old room. 

July 10. X767

We slept nice, the first time in a long time on a bed. However when we woke up the old couple was nowhere to be found, honestly the whole place looked like it hadn't been used in years. Confused on what's happening Marie and I went outside to look around, and what we found shocked us. Behind the house was a large stone and written on the stone was Alvida and Amos Maynard X659-X743.

"𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒩𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝑒.

𝐼 𝒲𝐼𝐿𝐿 𝒩𝐸𝒱𝐸𝑅 𝐿𝐸𝒜𝒱𝐸 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝒮𝐼𝒟𝐸"

\- 𝒫𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 (𝒩𝒾𝓍) 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐵𝒾𝑔 𝒮𝒾𝓈, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒!

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒."

-𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓎.

𝐼 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃,

𝓈𝑜......𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒!"

-𝒜𝓏𝒾𝑒𝓁 𝐼𝓀𝒶𝒾𝓀𝒶

"𝐼𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝑒𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓅?

𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃 𝓊𝓅."

-𝑅𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒲𝓇𝑒𝓃

"𝒰𝓂𝓂.....𝐼'𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒...𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹....𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒.

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝓎 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻,

𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉."

-𝑅𝑒𝓂𝒾 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝒶𝒽𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾

"𝐼 𝒟𝒪𝒩'𝒯 𝒲𝒜𝒩𝒩𝒜 𝒟𝐼𝐸!!!!"

-𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓁

©CielTachibana2021


	3. Chapter two: August X767

Behind the house was a large stone and written on the stone was Alvida and Amos Maynard X659-X743.

Was everything a dream? We both looked down and saw that we were wearing the clothes Alvida gave us, did we steal them? How did we find them? None of that mattered after looking through the house we found some old clothes, backpacks, camping supplies, and canteens. After raiding the house we went out the door, before stepping off the property we thanked the Maynards for everything and for their supplies. I bet you're thinking did you just steal from dead people? To answer your question yes, but it was necessary. Honestly we were surprised that the belongs weren't stolen or damaged, I guess the Maynards just lived to far away from civilization. 

At this point in time we have no plan, no final destination other than to survive. My goal is to find somewhere to call home, a place for my sister and I to live to rebuild our lives again.

"Hey, Nix, what do we do now?" Marie asked.

I looked down at her and smiled lightly, "I don't know, for now we just need to survive." 

August 13, X767

It has been a month since our parents died. Every day we walk, everyday we try to avoid the stares the other people give us. When needed we steal food, only when necessary. You have those who will give you things out of pity, and those who just walk on and pretend they didn't see you. It's been so long since we've had a warm meal, or a warm bed. There's a river that we have been following where we stop to bathe ourselves. But here out in the wilderness everything is everyman for himself. Some of the camping supplies that we used are a tent, some blankets, clothes, matches (although we're almost out) and a journal. I've decided to write about our experiences and things to not forget.

Before bed each night I try to come up with things to remember about our parents. Such as their name, their likes, dislikes, and just stories I don't want to forget.

My mothers name was Julia and my fathers name was Giovi. I remember a story my father used to tell me. When he was little his dad (my grandfather) owned a farm. They had angus cows, horses, and a huge vegetable and flower garden. He said his grandfather owned a blue tractor that had a trough on the front. When his dad was done with moving the hay bails he would let my dad ride in the trough all around the yard. He also told us a story about when he was younger my dad and his sister Melanie was playing outside in the yard with a hose. For some reason they thought it would be a smart idea to stick in the ground, the problem was when they tried to pull it out it was stuck. My grandfather got so mad at them. My dad would always tell me how much he missed my grandfather.

When my dad was sixteen my grandfather had a heart attack and died. He stopped breathing, when the paramedics arrived they were able to get a heartbeat it was faint but they still tried. But then they couldn't find it. December 12 at 10:24 was the date and time of death. I remember my dad telling me what it was like after my grandfather died, the pain and sadness he felt. I honestly couldn't relate until now after my parents are dead.

My grandmother is a different story she suffered from dementia and then she just died in her sleep. My father was the oldest so it was his job to take care of the farm, but he wanted to be an engineer so he left and got disowned by his siblings. My mom's mother was kind and you couldn't tell that she was old. On the day of her death the coroners only found three white hairs. My mom's dad died of stomach cancer. I am kind of sad that I didn't really get to meet my grandparents, the stories my parents would tell made me wish with all my heart that I could meet them. 

"Goodnight big sis," Marie said snapping me out of my thoughts.

I wished her goodnight before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

August 14, X767

I woke up to the sound of my sister crying. "Marie, what's wrong?" I said trying not to sound as tired as I felt.

"I miss mommy and daddy." 

I didn't know what to say, what do you say in these situations? 'Sorry they're never coming back,' 'sorry I killed them so they're now dead?' Instead I just opted to say "Yeah me too."

I felt her cuddle more into my side. She looked at me and said with teary eyes, "Big Sis, please don't leave me! I don't want to be alone." 

It took everything in me not to cry. She is only six years old and watched her parents get engulfed by flames. No six year old should have to go through that, no one should.

On the day the house burnt down I remember screams, I remember the sound of the front door flying of it's hinges, the sound of glass shattering. Then it all went dark. When I came to I was lying in the burn unit of Tidal Health Hospital. Covering more than half of my body ranging from second to third degree burns. My sister was in a little better shape, it was only her arm that was burned. The road to recovery was rough, and painful. The feel of the doctors peeling off the dead skin is something I will never forget. 

Our parents had a some money saved up if anything were to ever happen to them. But I guess they didn't expect the need to cover a huge hospital bill. Left with only a hundred bucks, it was hard when we first started off. I mean to go from three meals to day to maybe one meal every three days is hard. We barely survived the first week, and it only gets harder.

Part of me hates the doctors for releasing us. I mean now because of the we are homeless. No one wanted us, no foster home, no orphanage, the government just ignores us. They all think it was a murder and not an accident. They have their suspicions but I don't care, for no one will know what really happened that night.

"𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒩𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝑒.

𝐼 𝒲𝐼𝐿𝐿 𝒩𝐸𝒱𝐸𝑅 𝐿𝐸𝒜𝒱𝐸 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝒮𝐼𝒟𝐸"

\- 𝒫𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 (𝒩𝒾𝓍) 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐵𝒾𝑔 𝒮𝒾𝓈, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒!

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒."

-𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓎.

𝐼 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃,

𝓈𝑜......𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒!"

-𝒜𝓏𝒾𝑒𝓁 𝐼𝓀𝒶𝒾𝓀𝒶

"𝐼𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝑒𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓅?

𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃 𝓊𝓅."

-𝑅𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒲𝓇𝑒𝓃

"𝒰𝓂𝓂.....𝐼'𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒...𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹....𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒.

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝓎 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻,

𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉."

-𝑅𝑒𝓂𝒾 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝒶𝒽𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾

"𝐼 𝒟𝒪𝒩'𝒯 𝒲𝒜𝒩𝒩𝒜 𝒟𝐼𝐸!!!!"

-𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓁

©CielTachibana2021


	4. Chapter three: February 7, X767

I remember everything leading up to the death of my parents. Then in the moment everything was all a blur, but now thinking back on it everything is so clear. Everything about this night screamed crazy. A house fire burning down on a clear, beautiful starry night. The meaning 'I saw my life flash right before my eyes' put into play.

February 7, X767

[8:00pm]

Everything was nice and quiet, Marie was upstairs sleeping, my parents in the living room watching tv, and I standing at the top of the stairs peeking down to see if my parents were looking. A lot of thing lead up to me being here. It all started three days ago when my aunt Melanie messaged me out of nowhere. My father said when they were kids they got along just fine, but when they started growing up my aunt changed for the worst. My aunt told me that I were adopted, and that the government was paying my parents to watch me. 

I really shouldn't have believed her but I did want to know. My mother, Julia had beautiful auburn hair, her eyes were a shade of chocolate you could just stare and get lost in. My father, Givoi had black hair darker than the night sky. He had beautiful light brown eyes to match. My sister looked exactly like my mother. I on the other hand had bright red hair, that blazed like the sun. To go with my bright hair, I had bright green eyes and freckles to match. I looked nothing like my parents, and no one in my family had red hair.

With this curiosity I decided to go down to my father's office and look through his mail. I didn't want to get caught, I mean how do you explain to your mom and dad 'hey I think I'm adopted, so I'm just going to look through your mail, don't mind me.' I couldn't do that to them.

Finally I saw my golden opportunity, I slowly started walking down the stairs. Every knows that when you are trying to sneak down stairs, it is mandatory for the stairs to creak as loud as they possible can. Never in my life have I ever felt so nervous, finally making it down safely I turned the corner and sneaked through the kitchen towards my father's office.

[8:05]

Slowly turning the handle I snuck inside the office. I didn't want to turn on the light because I didn't want to alert my parents what I was doing. I saw my father had a candle burning, so I used that instead. Draw after draw, searching for anything when I finally found a document with my name on it. It was my birth ceretificate. 

Hospital Name: Tidal Health

Name: Phoenix Maya Soli

Parents Name: Julia Aelia Antonio and Remus Angelo Tiitus

Time: 6:14

Date: November 9, X749

I was shocked and confused, then I heard the door handle being jiggled and in walked my father.

[8:17]

"You're not supposed to be in here." He said.

At this point I was almost in tears, "explain this," I said almost yelling.

This all caught the attention of my mother. She looked at the certificate in my hand then sighed.

"Honey I-" she started.

"It's time she knows, no more excuses." My father snapped at my mother. This was a shock, they've never fought in front of us. We didn't know they could fight. 

"Your mother made a mistake three years after getting married."

I looked at my mom who was practically bawling at this point.

"She got drunk, and knocked up. She didn't want to give you up we were almost going to get a divorce, but that would use too much time and too much money." my father continued.

"So I'm a mistake?"

"Yes"

"Giovi! She's your daughter, don't say that to her." My mom said in protest.

"No she's some random stranger's daughter."

[8:20]

The two started bickering back and forth and in desperation I swung my arm to stop them from getting physical, and in the process I knocked over that stupid candle. Almost at once all the papers on the desk caught on fire. My mom pulled me towards the door. At this time were all screaming and shouting. Marie came down to see what the commotion was and she found us all running. Our house was made in X459 made entirely of wood and some stone on the outside, because it was so old, it was quick to catch. 

I remember my sister screaming my name as a pillar crashed down almost crushing her. Quickly I scoped her into my arms and ran towards our parents. 

"Damn, all the exits are blocked," my father said. We were completely surrounded by fire, at this time were in the kitchen. My mom looked around and grabbed the sprayhead, she quickly hosed us down with it before hosing herself down. She grabbed all the towels and soaked them before wrapping them and herself around us in a hug. She whispered I love you as everything feel around us, at some point tried fleeing without us but was shot back and landed right next to us. Then there was a loud bang, that was the front door flying off it's hinges. Then there was the sound of glass breaking, then everything went black.

In less than a hour, our family house was burnt, and my parents were killed.

When I came to, I was lying in the burn unit of Tidal Health Hospital. Covering more than half of my body ranging from second to third degree burns. My sister was in a little better shape, it was only her arm that was burned. They said that our parents died in the fire, their bodies were covering ours. Everything was gone, and it was all my fault.

"𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒩𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝑒.

𝐼 𝒲𝐼𝐿𝐿 𝒩𝐸𝒱𝐸𝑅 𝐿𝐸𝒜𝒱𝐸 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝒮𝐼𝒟𝐸"

\- 𝒫𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 (𝒩𝒾𝓍) 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐵𝒾𝑔 𝒮𝒾𝓈, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒!

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒."

-𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓎.

𝐼 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃,

𝓈𝑜......𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒!"

-𝒜𝓏𝒾𝑒𝓁 𝐼𝓀𝒶𝒾𝓀𝒶

"𝐼𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝑒𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓅?

𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃 𝓊𝓅."

-𝑅𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒲𝓇𝑒𝓃

"𝒰𝓂𝓂.....𝐼'𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒...𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹....𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒.

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝓎 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻,

𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉."

-𝑅𝑒𝓂𝒾 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝒶𝒽𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾

"𝐼 𝒟𝒪𝒩'𝒯 𝒲𝒜𝒩𝒩𝒜 𝒟𝐼𝐸!!!!"

-𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓁

©CielTachibana2021


	5. Characters

Characters (by chapter)

Phoenix (Nix) Soli: [chapter one}

Age; 18  
Gender; Female  
Character Impact:

She is the main character and the older sister of Marie Soli  
Marie Soli: [chapter one]

Age; 6  
Gender; female  
Character Impact:

She is the younger sister of Phoenix Soli  
Alvida Maynard: [chapter one]

She is the sweet old women who offered food to the Soli sisters  
Wife of Giovi  
Giovi Maynard: [chapter two]

Husband of Alvida  
Julia Antonio: [chapter two]

mother of Nix and Marie  
Wife of Giovi  
Choir Instructor  
Giovi Soli: [chapter two]

father of Nix and Marie  
husband of Julia  
Engineer  
Melanie Soli: [chapter two]

younger sister of Giovi  
Remus Angelo Tiitus: [Chapter three]

Nix's real father

"𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒩𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝑒.

𝐼 𝒲𝐼𝐿𝐿 𝒩𝐸𝒱𝐸𝑅 𝐿𝐸𝒜𝒱𝐸 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝒮𝐼𝒟𝐸"

\- 𝒫𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 (𝒩𝒾𝓍) 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐵𝒾𝑔 𝒮𝒾𝓈, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒!

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒."

-𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓎.

𝐼 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃,

𝓈𝑜......𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒!"

-𝒜𝓏𝒾𝑒𝓁 𝐼𝓀𝒶𝒾𝓀𝒶

"𝐼𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝑒𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓅?

𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃 𝓊𝓅."

-𝑅𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒲𝓇𝑒𝓃

"𝒰𝓂𝓂.....𝐼'𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒...𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹....𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒.

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝓎 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻,

𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉."

-𝑅𝑒𝓂𝒾 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝒶𝒽𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾

"𝐼 𝒟𝒪𝒩'𝒯 𝒲𝒜𝒩𝒩𝒜 𝒟𝐼𝐸!!!!"

-𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓁

©CielTachibana2021


	6. Story Extra One

Before the fire my dad told us many stories and facts about his grandfather, things he didn't want to forget. I decided to write down some of the things he told us about his childhood.

[story #1]

My dad used to tell me that everyday before going to school, my grandfather would stop at Mc. Donald's and order three sausage mc. muffins, and a large diet cola with no ice. My dad would always tell us how envious he and Melanie were that our grandfather got to eat Mc. Donald's every morning.

[Story #2]

My grandfather used to sit in this huge reclining chair in front of the tv. My grandma and grandpa owned two dogs, one Dalmatian named Brooke, and a chocolate lab mix named Abby. My grandfather loved cheese sticks, and so did the dogs. My dad would always say that when ever my grandfather got up the dogs would come running because they knew....It was cheese stick time!

[Story #3}

When ever my grandfather got a haircut, my dad would ask did you get a haircut? My grandfather would always pull on one hair and say "This one?"

[Story #4]

On my fathers first day of high school he was really nervous. My grandfather told him everything you think will go wrong, will. My dad was shocked but he started laughing, the joke let him forget about what was about to happen.

[Story #5}

This isn't so much of a story it's more of a fact, my grandfather loved his tractor. When the tractor was broke he would be so upset, but when he got it fixed he would be so happy. He would light up like a kid receiving a gift on Christmas morning.

I just want to say, if your still reading this....(~￣▽￣)~ Thank you for your support!

"𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒩𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝑒.

𝐼 𝒲𝐼𝐿𝐿 𝒩𝐸𝒱𝐸𝑅 𝐿𝐸𝒜𝒱𝐸 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝒮𝐼𝒟𝐸"

\- 𝒫𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 (𝒩𝒾𝓍) 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐵𝒾𝑔 𝒮𝒾𝓈, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒!

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒."

-𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓎.

𝐼 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃,

𝓈𝑜......𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒!"

-𝒜𝓏𝒾𝑒𝓁 𝐼𝓀𝒶𝒾𝓀𝒶

"𝐼𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝑒𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓅?

𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃 𝓊𝓅."

-𝑅𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒲𝓇𝑒𝓃

"𝒰𝓂𝓂.....𝐼'𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒...𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹....𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒.

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝓎 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻,

𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉."

-𝑅𝑒𝓂𝒾 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝒶𝒽𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾

"𝐼 𝒟𝒪𝒩'𝒯 𝒲𝒜𝒩𝒩𝒜 𝒟𝐼𝐸!!!!"

-𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓁

©CielTachibana2021


	7. Chapter four: September X767 (Part One)

Nix P.O.V

September 7, X767

[East Verde Baptist Church]

My dad was one of the kindest of men. When I was little he used to let me stand on the top of his feet while we danced around the living room. It was so much fun, the smile he always had. One could not compare his smile to anything, it was one of the most beautiful things you would ever witness. His smiles could light up even the darkest of nights. 

Thinking about things now, I can't believe how everything ended if I could go back in time there would be so many things I would change. I would stop myself from believing my aunt, I wouldn't go into that office. I'd would just drop the subject. The guilt of everything is too much, it's like holding up the sky. Your knees wanting to buckle out from under you, but you still hold on for some reason. I see the six year old me staying up late waiting for him to come home. 

I miss him, I miss my mom, I miss everyone. My dad and I had this special song it was "King of the World" by Point of Grace.

"Big sis, what do we do now?"

"We are running low on food, so we need to find some place to restock. How are you feeling?" 

"I'm fine, just tired." Marie says while yawning.

After walking a little farther we arrived at a food market. There was about twenty two stalls lined up in a square. The closest food stall was one that had a bunch of different fruits. Marie had an obsession with apples, so I decided to get some for her. Scanning through the apples, I found a ripe looking Honey Crisp Apple. Turning around to ask her opinion, I find she isn't behind me. 

Panic mode |||||ON|||||

'Where is she?' I start running around looking for her.

"Excuse me miss, but have you seen a little girl, she's 4' 2", she has auburn brown hair, chocolate brown eyes. Umm she responds to the name Marie?" I ask a women.

She looks me up and down before walking away completely ignoring me. I asked the same thing of six other people, each either ignoring me or saying no. 

This is a disaster, I promised I will always be there for her and now she's gone. I stand off to the side deep in thought when a voice shakes me from my thoughts.

"Hey, you, you seem like you need company. I promise to help in any possible situation, so.....let me tag along please!"

Huhhhhh. Okay that's weird. 

"Umm what?"

"You look like me, it seems your on the run right?" the voice who I identify as a boy asks.

"What...I'm not on the run."

His face feel, "oh then sorry." he said turning to walk away. Quickly grabbing his arm I asked if seen Marie, he shakes his head no. 

The boy stands still for a while before turning and saying "I can help you look for her if you want."

I think about for a while, he's a teen maybe seventeen or eighteen, I don't know anything about him. But I really need to find my sister, so I accept. 

"My name is Aziel Ikaika! and well I'm on the run!" he says while smiling."

What, who openly admits that, now I'm regretting my choice. Honestly though he doesn't look like much of a threat. He stands at maybe 5' 6", long, oily, black hair that goes past his shoulders. Dull green eyes, that looked like they've seen things. In total he looked like a shrimp noodle.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Phoenix Soli, but you can call me Nix." 

We shook hands then started searching the market until it started getting dark. Marie wasn't there, meaning she got lost, or she was kidnapped. 

Aziel P.O.V

Earlier in the day~

It's been four weeks since I've been on the run, everything is weird from what I know. I'm used to silk sheets, and food whenever I need it. Not in the wild, here your lucky if you can find a place to sleep.

A few days back I found an abandoned parking lot, in the back was a huge dumpster. Gross, but hey, you do what you need to do. Digging through I found some clothes, and some rags. When I started I packed a bag full of clothes, and some food, and a little bit of cash. 

Now I'm walking through a market trying to discreetly steal some food from those who don't pay attention. I was able to snag some bread, and some cheese. As I was walking I noticed a girl, she looked sad, worried and out of place in a good way. She had flaming red hair, like the sun. She seemed to be carrying a huge backpack. Her clothes was dirty and ripped, like she had been living in mud or in thorns for a while. She looked like me!

I decided to approach her. "Hey, you, you seem like you need company. I promise to help in any possible situation, so.....let me tag along please!" I said with enthusiasm.

She looked at me like I was weird, did I mistake her look. I continued asking if she was on the run. She shook her head and asked me about her sister. When I first saw her she was alone, so regretfully I had to tell her I hadn't. 

After introducing ourselves, we started looking for her little sister Marie. Not able to find her at sundown I asked if I could go get me belongings. I stuffed them in a nearby tree so I didn't have to walk through the market with it. She agreed and we went to go get my bag, when we arrived pined to the bag was a note. The note said.

"I have your sister, 

In my opinion life is boring so I decided to play a game.

I will give you a clue, and you will have to follow that clue.

Each clue will take you to a different place across the country.

If you follow the clues, you will arrive to find your sister. I

f you decide to ignore this message, then well I will kill her. "

What, why is this note here? She's not my sister, does this mean the person is watching us. Turning around to look at Nix her face was a mixture of emotions. From sadness to anger, to guilt. I turned the note over and on the back was more writing.

"This narrow, winding body of water looks more like a canyon-bound river than a lake.

Nestled between forested canyon walls it provides picturesque water recreation in a secluded, wooded setting.

Is an important water source for the town of Payson, Arizona."

Huh, that was so vague. I mean there's many water sources near Payson.

"Blue Ridge Reservoir," Nix whispered.

Whipping my head to look at her. "How do you know."

"I just graduated Payson High School, we took a field trip there once when I was in ninth grade." 

Currently we are located at East Verde Baptist Church, and we'll have to walk all the way to the lake. Well looks like we'll be going on an adventure.

Nix P.O.V

'Damn it! I always said I would protect my sister and now she's kidnapped due to this weirdo's fantasies. I am the worst older sister ever.' 

"We should ask someone in the church for a map."

"That would probably be a good idea," Aziel agreed.

We walked towards the East Verde Baptist Church, and walked inside. There was a priest praying at the alter, he turned at the sound of our footsteps.

"How may I help thee?" The priest asked standing up from his position at the alter.

"Umm we were wondering, do you have a map of Arizona?" Aziel asked.

"Hmm, I do, I will give it to you on one condition."

"...That is...?" I asked.

"You will stay here one night, rest up and eat some food. I don't know what your going through but maybe God sent thee my way for a reason. There is a kitchen in the back help yourselves to anything, when you leave you can take anything you need."

We stood there shocked at what the priest was saying, nobody is this nice. There must be other motives behind everything right?

"My name is Father Kahuna*, please come in and make yourselves at home."

Moving past the priest we entered the church and set our stuff down in a corner. The priest motioned us towards the kitchen, surprisingly the kitchen was stocked with food. For dinner we ate chicken parmesan wraps. Father Kahuna said we could take some of the food for when we leave. He also gave us backpacks, a flashlight, a small tent, some blankets, matches, bug spray, and a three hundred dollar wad of cash. We were shocked but we didn't forget to thank him.

We decided to get some sleep because we would have to walk about seventeen miles to get to the Blue Ridge Reservoir.

??? P.O.V

It has started, let the games begin. I wonder how long it will take them to reach their goal. Although the girl might not be alive when they get here, if she doesn't shut up I'ma kill her.

September 8, X767

Aziel P.O.V

The next morning when we woke up there was a plate of eggs, bacon and pancakes waiting for us alongside a map of Arizona, and a map of the United States.

"I wonder where the priest is?" Nix mumbled quietly.

After eating the breakfast we headed out on our adventure to find Marie. According to the map we would have to walk 0.5 miles to get to our first stop. It wasn't much of a trip it only took eleven minutes to get to the Verde Glen Campground. The trip would've been better if it wasn't full of awkward silence. But then again I wouldn't talk much if my sister was kidnapped. When we arrived at the Campground there was local food, wine, and music festival going on. Everything was crowded and loud, Nix looked so uncomfortable. As we were walking through the campground we heard yelling.

"Hey! Get back here you mangy mutt!"

We looked around trying to find where the yelling was coming from before a grey blob knocked us over.

Nix P.O.V

Now what the hell was that? Looking down we saw this light gray dog. It looked skinny and boney. 

"Hey! Is that your dog?" A man's voice asked us.

"No."

"Who's dog is this?" The man yelled angrily.

"We should just walk away," Aziel whispered in my ear.

Agreeing we tried walking away to find the dog following us. 

"What do you want?" I asked annoyed.

"Maybe it's lonely." 

"Well it can be lonely somewhere else, we can't get distracted."

"There's no harm in letting it follow us." Aziel said.

After a few minutes of standing there I agreed. 

"The dog is an Italian greyhound."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"My mom used to have one, his name was Guinness."

"Does the dog even have a name?"

"Doesn't look like it, I mean he doesn't have a collar...WE SHOULD NAME IT!!!!"

Name it? What should we name it?

"How about Skýlos? The color of it's fur reminds me of the sky." Aziel replied.

Looking down on the dog the name Skýlos seemed to fit it, it sure liked the name. 

|||||||ℕ𝕖𝕨 𝕞𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕔𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕕||||||

|||||||𝕊𝕜ý𝕝𝕠𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕛𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕪||||||

Continue on our journey, the next place we will stop at is the Pieper Hatchery Spring, it is about five miles away. 

"What was your dog like?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

Aziel looked at me in shock that I started a conversation, quickly realizing his expression he answered. "He was a cute dog. My mom used to always dress him up in doggy pajamas. Everyone would always comment on how cute he looked. When we went on vacation we left him at a Pet Vacation Home, when we finished our vacation we were told that Guinness accidently pulled off his leash, and ran into the road and was hit. The doctor who was there said that it was painless and quick."

That was depressing, like dang. "Growing up we didn't have dogs, we had cats, we had five, an all black cat named Midnight, a brown cat with a gold dot on it's head named Taffy, a white and grey Siamese cat named Nemi, another black cat only this one had white feet his name was Reckless. Last but not least we had another brown cat named Pokey."

"So your family was a cat family?" Aziel said between laughs.

"Yeah," I said chuckling. "When we first met, you asked if I was running away too, if it's not too much to ask can I ask why you are running away?" 

"I will if you tell me a little bit about your story."

I stood silently wondering if it was worth it but, so far Aziel seems trustworthy. "Fine, only a little bit."

"Okay that's fair, I'll tell you the basic story then. My father died a six years ago and my mom was always lonely, one day she met this guy named Semias Lynx. They "feel" in love and got married about a year ago. He started acting weird, and doing bad things, and finally I couldn't take it anymore and I left."

He's like me his father died too. "My parents were murdered in a house fire. My parents sacrificed themselves to save us. The firemen said that they threw their bodies on top of ours to save Marie and I." I said.

There was a moment of silence, before Aziel spoke up. "Hey, think on the positive side, you won't be alone in this!"

That was all I needed, those words that I won't be alone. I don't think I could make it, walking five miles alone.

On the way to the Pieper Hatchery Spring we talked about our likes and dislikes. I learned some interesting things about Aziel. Such as he was a drum major in his high school band. Also I learned that he is allergic to cats. 

When I first saw him, all I saw was long, oily, black hair that goes past his shoulders. Dull green eyes, that looked like they've seen things. Now I sorta see him as a friend. (Even though we met like yesterday) I just feel like I can connect with him.

Finally we reached the Pieper Hatchery Spring, the walk from the campground took us about two hours. I am exhausted I don't think I can go on. We decided to take a break and eat lunch. When we were at the church we grabbed peanuts, chips, some bottles of water, beef jerky, and other various dried snacks.

Aziel fed Skýlos some scraps of his beef jerky. From the looks of it, Skýlos enjoyed it. After resting for a bit we got up and started walking towards our next destination. The Rail Road Tunnel, this was only 1.8 miles away. As we were walking we started telling each other jokes, Aziel told me this one and I couldn't stop laughing. Dehydrated Water, just add water.

After about an hour we reached the Rail Road Tunnel, we were starting to walk around the tracks when we heard a female voice yell.

"Stop, you two, right now."

Turning around we saw a police officer with her blonde hair braided in a bun on top of her head. We slowly turned around showing her our hands the whole time.

"You two what's your names?"

Not wanting to get in trouble we told her. After telling her she told us to put our hands behind our back. In the car she told us we were under arrest for the defacement of state property. We were so confused, as we drove out of the tunnel we saw spray painted on the side of tunnel,

ñïx §ðlï åñÐ Äzïêl Ìkåïkå

Confused we quietly sat in the back of the car, as the police woman drove us to a the station. When we got there she asked our age, and since we were legal adults we didn't need parent confirmation. Just like that we were side tracked from our goal. At five o'clock a meal came, on the tray was a small note that said;

D̴̰̲̱̘̮̦̾̽í̸̳̹̹̘̹͈̜̏͌͝ͅd̶̘̯͖̲̏̇͂̈̃̕ͅ ̵̢̗̮̤̠͇͔͒̈́̄͜ͅy̵͈͔̭̏̈́̇͐̒̏o̵̜̓̍̓͐̎̈́̓͌̕͝u̵̪̎͛͐̈́̍ ̵̡͔͆͆̓̅̋͒͑͝t̸̠̗͚͈̬̮̘͂̌͂̉̄͑̕͜ẖ̴̪̔̚ḯ̶͓̞̙͉͒̓͆͂̊͛̌̑͠n̵͍̰̜̪̠̄̔̐̿̂̆͘k̵̛͔̪̏͂̈̋͘͠ ̸͖̇̆̋̾̅̄͗̚͠i̷̦̦̊̍t̵̛̳͕̿̅ ̵̢͉̱͍͎̹̇̐̈́̐ẇ̸̢͚͓̫͖͖̼̯̈́̓̃͋̾̈́̑̏͘a̸̛͙͂̽̐̑͋s̵̢̝̑ ̸̢̯͕̘̦̘̹̭̩̿̔̈́͌g̴͓̤̺̩̩̰͉̓̐̔͊̍͘͘͠ȍ̴͎̪͎͖̻̣͛̄̒̇̋͘͝i̴̫̽̄̂̌̒̿̚͝͠n̷̨̨̦̮̦̜̗͇͚̗̍̔͊g̶̣̣͔̜̜̩͚̑̒̂̆̒ ̷̲̌̃̋͝͝͠t̸͇͔̪̥̗͖̃̈́̕͠ȍ̶̡̞̹̪͊ ̵̧̛̛̱̪͑́͘b̴̼͗͗͒͝ę̷̬͙̥̈́̂̃͒̿̉̚͠ ̵̧̩̰̘̂̅̒̈̕͝ͅt̷̲̰̥͉̱̯̼̩͖͐͂̇̏̋̏̄̔͝h̶͉͇̹̠̮̫̣͙̓̿̂́͌͂̌̈́̎͛ḁ̴̞̟̃̂͊͌͝ͅẗ̸͈͔͙̬͆̾̅̑̈́͗͠ ̵̟̟̱̜̬̑͌e̵̡͔̠̣͓͎͌̉͗͜à̸̞̩̤̦̲͉̝̣͚̱̑̾͛͛͌̊̉̃͝s̸̯͚͙̎y̵̢̫̱̣̯̮̦̍́̈́̓̽͒͝?̷̨̟͔̟̫̺̼͖̮̇̆̂͐͌͑ 

So it was the mystery guy. After our meal the police woman informed us that we would have to stay in jail for two weeks before being released. Oh great two weeks of my sister being in some random persons hands.

I tried uploading this chapter like five times, and every time I did my WIFI would cut out. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

*Kahuna- means priest in Hawaiian.

(Lyrics to the song)

King of the World: Point of Grace

Spinning around on the tops of his feet  
Smiles of the angels cannot be so sweet  
Wide blue eyes and piggy tail swirls  
She's her daddy's girl

'Cause he knows the jokes that always make her laugh  
Takes her for ice cream instead of her math  
At the end of the day by the light of the moon  
They turn up the music in their living room  
And she yells

Dance me, dance me around  
Till my feet don't ever touch down  
There's nothing better than being your girl  
And if I am your princess then daddy  
You are the king of the world

It's funny how life moves in circles of time  
To think not so long ago that face was mine  
Houses get smaller we take different names  
But somethings in life stay the same

Dance me, dance me around  
Till my feet don't ever touch down  
There's nothing better than being your girl  
And if I am your princess than daddy  
You are the king of the world

Someday she'll go off and find a life of her own  
And marry a good man and make a happy home  
Until she comes back and sees with those same eyes  
What time cannot disguise

She walks through the door with that look on her face  
'Cause daddy's brown hair has all turned to gray  
They talk for hours, they cry and they laugh  
Watching old movies and thinking back  
Just as she turns to go she says  
"Hey Dad, how 'bout one for the road?"

Dance me, dance me around  
Till my feet don't ever touch down

Dance me, dance me around  
Till my feet don't ever touch down  
'Cause there's nothing better than being your girl  
Oh no, there's nothing better than being your girl  
And if I am your princess than daddy  
You are the king of the world, king of the world

Spinning around of the tops of his feet  
Smile of the angels cannot be so sweet

"𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓉𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒩𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝑒.

𝐼 𝒲𝐼𝐿𝐿 𝒩𝐸𝒱𝐸𝑅 𝐿𝐸𝒜𝒱𝐸 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝒮𝐼𝒟𝐸"

\- 𝒫𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 (𝒩𝒾𝓍) 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐵𝒾𝑔 𝒮𝒾𝓈, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒!

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒."

-𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓁𝒾

"𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓎.

𝐼 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃,

𝓈𝑜......𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒!"

-𝒜𝓏𝒾𝑒𝓁 𝐼𝓀𝒶𝒾𝓀𝒶

"𝐼𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝑒𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓅?

𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒿𝑜𝒾𝓃, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃 𝓊𝓅."

-𝑅𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒲𝓇𝑒𝓃

"𝒰𝓂𝓂.....𝐼'𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒...𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹....𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒.

𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝓎 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻,

𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉."

-𝑅𝑒𝓂𝒾 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝒶𝒽𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾

"𝐼 𝒟𝒪𝒩'𝒯 𝒲𝒜𝒩𝒩𝒜 𝒟𝐼𝐸!!!!"

-𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓁

©CielTachibana2021


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